Tadej Pogacar re-enters the game in Canada after post-Tour reboot

Tadej Pogačar’s weariness was evident the last time he pinned on a race number. Pogačar, being Pogačar, he was still on the attack on the final day of the Tour de France before ultimately giving best to Wout van Aert on Montmartre, but it was hard to shake the sense that he was running on fumes, mentally if not necessarily physically.

He had, after all, held Jonas Vingegaard at arm’s length throughout the Tour, and he would have been the overwhelming favourite for the Vuelta a España had he opted to ride it. But through the final week of the Tour, as Pogačar affected a certain boredom with the race and his own dominance, he seemed to be sending a not especially tacit message to UAE Team Emirates-XRG management – he didn’t have the mental freshness to ride another Grand Tour.

Within days of the Tour, UAE publicly acceded to that wish, and Pogačar was able to enjoy that rarest of things for a rider of his standing, a little shore leave. The Slovenian’s late-summer reboot involved time spent at home in Monaco, a trip to his native Komenda for a criterium and a visit to watch his partner Urška Žigart at the Tour de Romandie.

The temporary respite from a strictly calibrated training programme will surely have done Pogačar good, though the same lassitude that was so evident in the third week of the Tour resurfaced during his break. Photos circulated of Pogačar on a coffee ride wearing a jersey bearing the legend “Do not disturb” as well as “No photography” emblems. The sentiment might have been understandable, and the intention was likely playful, but its execution still felt a little crass. 

No matter, Pogačar returns to the public domain this week when he lines up at the Grand Prix de Québec and the Grand Prix de Montréal. The Canadian sojourn serves primarily as a tune-up ahead of the World Championships in Rwanda but Pogačar being Pogačar, he will be expected to shine – and win – this weekend too.

He did so on his two previous visits, winning in Montreal on each occasion. The hillier of the two races, with its repeated laps over the Côte du Camillien-Houde, seems ideally tailored to Pogačar, who outsprinted Wout van Aert in 2022 and then soloed home ahead of Pello Bilbao last year.

With almost 4,000 metres of climbing on the agenda, it’s a useful work-out ahead of the onerous Rwanda Worlds, and it also doubles as a recon for the 2026 Worlds – which will, of course, be held in Montreal on what is expected to be a strikingly similar course.

The preceding GP de Québec is, notionally, a less arduous race, and the event has tended to fall the way of faster finishers over the years, like Michael Matthews and Arnaud De Lie. Both men are on the start line here, as is Van Aert, but who could possibly rule out Pogačar’s 2025 vintage on the uphill finale on the Grande Allée? 

Even from a relative standing start after an almost seven-week lay-off, Pogačar should be a redoubtable performer in Québec. After all, he outsprinted no less a figure than Mathieu van der Poel on the opening day of the Critérium du Dauphiné after a similar block without racing. As he keeps reminding us, the normal rules don’t apply to him.

By the weekend, Pogačar might have further motivation to chase victory. His UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad is closing in on HTC’s 2009 record of 85 victories, with their running tally currently at 81. With the Vuelta a España (seven stage wins and counting) ongoing and with Isaac del Toro on the prowl in Italy this week, Pogačar might well be in a position to claim a record-breaking victory in Canada.

Before lining up the Dauphiné, Pogačar hinted that the enjoyable part of his season – namely the Spring Classics – was about to give way to the drearier obligation of riding and winning the Tour. In that light, it’s tempting to couch Pogačar’s late-season programme of one-day races – Canada, the Worlds, the European Championships and Il Lombardia – as a more relaxed endeavour after the grind of the summer.

But that would understate the competitive fires burning within. Even though it seems that way at times, inning bike races isn’t something imposed on Pogačar from above – it’s what drives him. Indeed, he has admitted as much, suggesting that he would retire once he stopped winning at his current rate.

And as if there was any doubt about Pogačar’s rigour at this point in the year, it was confirmed this week that he will ride the time trial as well as the road race at the Rwanda Worlds. After a much-needed post-Tour break, Pogačar is back to the serious business of winning. It would be a surprise if he leaves Canada without another victory to propel him towards the Worlds.

The only WorldTour races in the Americas are also two of the most engaging on the calendar, quickly and firmly establishing themselves as a peloton favourite from the very first editions in 2010.

It helps that Serge Arsenault’s organisation is a well-oiled one – small wonder Montreal got the nod to host next year’s Worlds – and the circuits in both Quebec and Montreal are smartly designed from both a sporting and spectator standpoint. 

The tiresome (and moot) conversation about Strade Bianche’s putative Monument status gets dusted down every Spring, but there’s a strong argument that the twin Canadian races are at least worthy of being called Autumn Classics by now. 

But that’s merely an honorific title. The key point is that the Grands Prix de Québec et Montréal draw fields worthy of any Classic every year.

Pogacar tops the billing, but the undercard is an impressive one. He has the on-form Brandon McNulty, Adam Yates and Jhonatan Narvaez for company in the UAE team. Van Aert is joined by Tiesj Benoot and Simon Yates in the Visma | Lease a Bike line-up.

Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula), and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) should all be to the fore in Quebec. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) could all shine in Montreal, as might Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost).